NY man dies in police custody after stun gunned

ONEIDA, N.Y. — State police are investigating the death of a 41-year-old central New York man who succumbed after police used a stun gun on him.

Oneida Police Chief Paul Thompson tells the Observer-Dispatch that John Havener was acting in a disorderly manner and attempting to flag down cars on a highway just before dawn on Monday.

Thompson says the officers who responded to the scene used several methods before they fired a stun gun twice. Thompson says Havener, who was not armed, had difficulty breathing once he was handcuffed and was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died.

The state attorney general’s office has entered the investigation because it’s protocol when an unarmed civilian is killed by police.